Today
the Maya are trying to find a balance between their ancient society and one
that embodies their ancestry with functionality in today’s world. The religion found today, for example, is one
that embodies their past beliefs and rituals but also incorporates Catholicism. Aspects that were once major parts of everyday
life are being incorporated as similarly as possible – the community still has
secular and religious leaders, rituals are performed, Shamans keep track of the
established 260 day calendar and worships and offerings are still features
encompassed from their past.
Despite
the attempt to keep tradition alive and cohesive, it is astonishing to read
about the difficulties and struggles that the Mayan culture deals with on a day
to day basis. Most of us wake up each and every day, completely unaware
of what this culture has to face and endure.
Today, missionaries are responsible
for the destruction of the treasured and valued rainforest that is such a crucial
characteristic in their society, targeting the area in hopes of harvesting its
ample mahoganies. The “conquest” from these
missionaries is essentially becoming catastrophic to this ancient culture.
In addition, the Maya people
experienced great devastation in their numbers when approximately 30 years ago
they found themselves in unwarranted conflict with their own government and
leftist guerrillas. The result of this destruction
was hundreds of thousands dead or missing.
The Maya are in a similar situation today with the dealings of continued
racism among the people of Guatemala.
Despite the richness that surrounds this culture’s history and its
numerous accomplishments; many Maya people today keep their heritage a secret
to avoid this unwanted negative attention.
In order for this culture to continue on in its survival,
I feel more attention and awareness have to be brought to light in regards to
their unmerited struggles within their region.
The Mayan culture has suffered from discrimination and racism and its
people are looked down upon in Guatemala for the simple fact that they are
Maya. What a shame to have a culture as
rich and influential as the Maya, with members of its society afraid to admit
that they are members, for fear of severe repercussion. Obviously they have done many things right to
have survived for as long as they have, and I feel this wealth of knowledge and
success should be sheltered, shared and revered for these many accomplishments.
I agree with a lot of the points you've brought up here. Education is definitely a huge influence on preventing racism towards people groups like the Maya, and hopefully education about their vibrant culture will continue to increase.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand what you mean by missionaries destroying the rainforest, though. I know logging is having a huge negative impact on our tropical rainforests, in addition to grazing and urban development, but what kind of missionaries are you talking about? As far as I know, missionaries aren't making a significant logging impact.
I think it's amazing that the population of the Maya people is at six to seven million. These people hold back many of their cultural secrets and you know what, I don't blame them. Their governments don't deserve to know all their secrets. So much history and so rich of culture. You would think that these governments would be attempting to learn as much they could about such an influential culture instead of making them feel like second class citizens. I believe another negative impact missionaries had on this culture was their religious influences. So I'm glad you talk about how they have continued their ancient rituals and beliefs through their religious leaders.
ReplyDeletehbk - The missionaries I mentioned are the fundamentalist missionaries discussed within "The Maya Today" article. They are determined to harvest the mahoganies which are unfortunately in the area in which the Maya reside.
ReplyDeleteThe slaughter that this ethnic group has faced is stunning especially becuase the world is so unaware of this persecution. So much gets focused elsewhere and the Maya history is so cherished, people really overlook the gruesome facts that comprise the lives of modern day Maya. A
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